The Kendo Club: Playing for Keeps
by Insert New Name Here
Summary: Kazuto Kirigaya lived a tormented life, haunted by a dark past and bullies who threaten his future. However, his current life is shattered when a certain piece of his background is uncovered by the very people he never wanted to find it. Now, forced into joining his school's Kendo Club for his talents, will he be able to move on? Rewrite of The Kendo Club, strong language. Harem
1. Chapter 1: Acting on Instinct

The Kendo Club: Playing for Keeps

Chapter One: Acting on Instinct

* * *

**A/N:**

**WARNING: STORY CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

**Hey, readers! How's it going? Formalities aside, here's the point of this authors' note. Back in January, I got a review for the original TKC (The Kendo Club) that really made me think. About a week ago, I looked back on TKC, then thought, "Oh, crap! He was right!"**

**If that seems vague to you, then congratulations! You get a cookie!**

**Anyway, here's the point. That review made me seriously think about rewriting TKC. So, like I said, I took another look at TKC about a week ago, then immediately set to work. This is what came of it!**

**So, let me make this clear: this will be the only rewrite of The Kendo Club. If this one fails, there won't be another. The sequel and prequel will eventually be updated, but they will no longer be connected to the old TKC. They will instead be linked with this story, even though I have no plans of revising their first chapters.**

**Okay, that's enough out of me! I hope you have a good read!**

**See ya at the bottom!**

* * *

_Tick, tock, tick, tock—_

I bored holes in the clock with my tired eyes, doing my best to stay awake long enough to hear the bell ring. Of course, this left my mind completely devoid of whatever formulas my math teacher was spewing out of her mouth at the time, which I knew would inevitably lead to having late-night cram sessions with my few friends. I wasn't bad at math. It was quite the opposite, actually. I just had the attention span of a fruit fly when it came to listening to teachers in class.

_Tick, tock, tick, tock—_

I could feel myself losing the battle against my drowsiness. The sound of the clock was just too calming, and for some unknown reason, I couldn't hear a word coming from the teacher's mouth. Just as I felt myself slipping into dreamland—

"Kazuto!"

_The hell?!_

The teacher's shout seemed to come out of nowhere, shocking my senses until I was wide awake. I quickly raised my head up and looked around, noting that several of the kids around me were quietly snickering, some trying as hard as they could not to burst out laughing.

Deciding to play off of the kids' amusement, I laughed nervously, putting my right hand behind my head. "What'd I miss?"

The teacher only narrowed her eyes, trying to control her anger. "Answer the problem on the board, please!"

I looked to the board, finding the problem to be an exact copy of one of my recent homework problems. My photographic memory came to my aid, and so I walked up to the blackboard. I wrote the answer down, then turned around.

Silence. All traces of amusement vanished from the room as everyone stared at me in shock.

Kazuto Kirigaya had done it again. He had slept through almost all of the class period, then answered a complex equation flawlessly, without even showing his work. How the hell does he do it?

That's what the waves of anger radiating off of my teacher told me she was thinking.

"I'm right, aren't I?" I said, giving her a smirk. When I received nothing but a nod in reply, I walked back to my seat, my smug look not leaving my face for a second.

I sat down, and not a second later, a loud noise nearly ruptured my eardrums.

_BRIIIIING!_

My smirk changed into a genuine smile as I got back up, packing my supplies into my bag. I then slung the bag over my shoulder, heading out the classroom door.

_Thus ends the school day. Time to get the rest of my stuff and head for the clubroom._

As soon as I exited the classroom, I made a beeline for my locker. I was careful not to run _too_ fast, so as to not stand out. After all, I had an image to uphold as a lazy gamer. I couldn't let my rigorous daily exercises get in the way of that, could I?

When I arrived at my locker, I found a note taped to the outside. I peeled it off, beginning to read its contents.

"_Come out of hiding."_

That was all it said.

_Don't tell me… they've tracked me… all the way to my freaking locker. This is just great! Just as I thought I was forgotten!_ I thought, exasperated at their persistence. Who was I talking about? Well—

"Kazuto?"

I cast a sideways glance towards the locker to the right of mine, finding my best friend and next door neighbor, a midnight-haired girl named Sachi Takamachi. As usual, she was one of about four girls in the entire school who could make the tacky girls' uniform look good.

My gaze turned from her to her locker, finding that there was a note on hers as well. I reached for it, but she got to it first, taking it and reading it herself. After a few seconds, she crumpled the paper up, and we both opened our lockers simultaneously.

I opened my mouth to say something, but she put a finger to her lips as she looked over at me. We extracted our things from our lockers wordlessly, then left for our club room.

"So, I'm guessing they found you?" Sachi asked me as we walked. I could just barely hear her quiet voice over the roar of students, but I heard her well enough to understand.

"Yeah, looks like it," I told her, sighing greatly. "Don't worry, though. If I don't respond for a while, they'll eventually start looking somewhere else."

"If you say so," Sachi said, looking down. I could feel the sadness in her voice, and I knew exactly what she was thinking.

_She's afraid that if I go back, I won't have time for her and the club._

"C'mon, stop with the sad looks!" I said cheerily, putting my hand on her head. "There's no way I'd leave. Trust me on that."

I removed my hand from her head. She giggled, then looked me in the eyes with a smile on her face. "Thanks, Kazuto."

* * *

Before we knew it, we had arrived at our clubroom. The words, 'Computer Research Club' were written on a banner above the doorway. We walked in, and I was immediately greeted with the sight of a blond-haired teen clad in a beanie and a light jacket running at me. I soon found myself in a headlock, and it took all I had not to use my skills to break free.

"Yo, Vice Prez!" he said gleefully, only releasing his hold on me when he heard me start to gasp for air.

"Hello… to you… too… Ducker…" I panted, giving him a smile once my breathing returned to normal. "Nice hold. You're definitely getting better."

"Thanks!" he replied, allowing me to walk past him. "I've been working on it all weekend!"

_Please… don't remind me that it's a Monday…_

I walked up to the club president, Keita, and put my fist out. He bumped it with his own, and I said, "Hey, Club Prez."

"Hey, Kazuto!" he replied jubilantly. "So, how was your day?"

I sat my bag down beside me, pulling out my personal laptop and putting it on the desk in front of me. "Oh, you know. Same old, same old," I said as I opened it up, then typed in the password. "I fell asleep in math class again, then pissed the teacher off by answering the problem on the board correctly without showing my work. Anyway, what's new with you guys?"

Just as I said that, the last two club members walked into the room. Pleasantries were exchanged between us all, and soon enough, they had all logged in to the school computers. We looked to each other, then all nodded at once. We turned our heads back to our respective computer screens, then clicked on our first taskbar shortcuts: the shortcuts to our newest 'research topic', an MMORPG called 'Sword Art Online'.

Though we were technically called the Computer _Research_ Club, we could literally get away with doing anything we wanted as long as we twisted our purpose for doing it into some kind of research. Such was the case with Sword Art Online, which had been our 'research topic' for the last month and a half. I had been playing it much longer (about half a year, actually), and had introduced it to the club out of sheer boredom one day. They all took a liking to it, and it then became our go-to game to play every day after school.

Where was I? Oh, that's right.

Once the login screen pulled up, I typed in my game ID and password.

_Game id: Kirito_

_Password: ************_

I hit the login button, and I was brought up to my last save point, which happened to be just before the seventy-fourth floor boss room. Judging by the closed boss door, no one had taken it on yet.

_Well, that's just fine. I can probably solo it easily, just like I did with the last one._

I heard someone walking up from behind me, and I recognized the pattern of footsteps as Ducker's. "By the way, congrats on soloing the seventy-third floor boss last weekend! Dunno how you did it, but it must have been hella hard!"

"Well, not really," I told him as I moved away from the boss room. "I have a pretty full bag of tricks."

_I won't be able to solo it here without everyone finding out, so I'll just do some more grinding. That never hurts._

"I'm curious, though. How _did_ you do that?" Ducker asked me.

"Trade secret," I said, an amused smile playing at my lips. "Sorry, man."

"I heard you told Sachi!" he countered, feigning hurt feelings.

My smile disappeared.

_Did Sachi tell him that I told her? Well, I guess it doesn't matter._

I met his mock glare with an amused smile. "Well, that's different."

"How so?" Keita asked, walking over to us.

_And now there's another person involved._

"She's the princess of my next door castle. Of course her next door prince would tell her a royal secret," I said, just barely keeping a straight face.

_Wait for it…_

"You said it was a trade secret," Ducker said, giving me a smirk.

_There it is._

"Yeah, well, you can be quiet," I said angrily, though the smile on my lips gave me away.

Everyone laughed, and soon enough, we were all 'researching' Sword Art Online.

_Guys… I love you all. You're my best friends, and the best club I could ask for._

* * *

_That's right! Die, trash mob!_

It had been a while since I started 'researching', and I had been grinding up for the next boss fight the entire time. I had reached level ninety-five about thirty minutes in, and I knew that by the time I stopped grinding to head home, I would easily be strong enough to take on the boss. Speaking of time…

I looked at my watch, and I gasped at what I found. "Crap, it's late! Guys, I gotta go!"

"Where to?" Keita asked me. "I can drive you."

_He doesn't want me to walk alone, eh? I know I get picked on, but still!_

"It's all right, man. I'm just going home," I said, giving him a smile. "Thanks for the offer, though."

"Well, okay…" he replied, his tone filled to the brim with concern.

"C'mon, don't worry!" I said, shutting my laptop and putting it in my bag. "I'll be fine!"

_It's my problem, so don't try to fix it!_ I thought bitterly.

"Well, I'll come with you," Sachi said, logging off of her school computer. "I've got to go home, too, so we might as well go together."

As soon as she finished packing her things, we bid farewell to our friends, leaving the school.

* * *

As we walked on the sidewalk of a street, I could feel it again.

I had a strange ability that gave me premonitions when something bad was about to happen (though on rare occasions, the premonition will be about something good). They always came true, no matter how hard I tried to stop them. Thus, I learned to just sit back and wait for them to happen rather than try to stop them. Of course, a recent one made me contradict that rule. I had been trying as hard as I could to prevent it from happening. Even so, the feeling kept getting stronger with each passing day. But I digress.

_Something's about to happen,_ I thought to myself, a frown appearing on my face._ If I had to guess, I'd say it would be—_

Just like that, I found my face being put on a collision course with the ground. On instinct, I put my right arm in front of me, and when it made contact with the ground, I pushed off at an angle, causing me to roll sideways until I was sitting up. I then stood up, giving my aggressor a glare.

"Hey, Kuradeel. How was your day?" I asked him, voice dripping with venom. "Oh, don't tell me. It sucked ass because you couldn't find me to make fun of me in the halls, right?"

"You son of a—" he started before taking a deep breath. "What are you doing walking on my street, Kirigaya?"

"Fuck off, ya dumbass," I spat. "It's a public street, so it's not like you own it."

That particular comment earned me a punch to the face, to which I responded by grabbing his fist as he withdrew it. I then jerked him forward by my captive arm, pulling him past me with alarming speed. When he was far enough behind me, I let go, causing him to stumble, then fall to the ground.

I cast a glance at Sachi, who seemed paralyzed with fear. My face softened, then quickly contorted in anger as I looked back at Kuradeel.

_Sorry… but I won't bow down to this guy. Not today._

"Look, I haven't had the best of days," I hissed at him. "So if you want to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter, then be my guest and keep attacking me. But if you don't want to go home with bruises all over you, then I suggest you get the hell out of dodge. Your call."

"You arrogant prick!" Kuradeel shouted, getting up and running at me.

_Ass kicking it is, then!_

As he ran towards me, I felt another premonition.

_This one's positive… let's ride it out._

Just as he grabbed my shirt to keep me still as he attacked, I heard a familiar feminine voice shout out at Kuradeel.

"Kuradeel, stop it! You'll make us look bad!"

_And _there_ it is!_

"A-Asuna! What a lovely surprise!" Kuradeel said nervously, like a deer caught in the headlights. "We were just having a little fun!"

_What a splendid cover-up from the ultimate suck-up_, I thought, my sarcasm unmatched.

"I never knew that getting punched in the face was so much fun," Asuna said dryly. "Besides, from what I saw, you would easily lose to him."

_Wait, she _saw_ all that?! Well, I don't think she'll tell, so it's fine._

Kuradeel growled ferociously. "Fine," he said quietly. He turned away from us, beginning to walk away.

_That's right,_ I thought, smirking. _You'd better walk away._

I glanced at Sachi, watching as her entire body, tensed from fear, gradually began to relax. As soon as she seemed calm, I turned to my 'savior', who was smiling apologetically.

"Sorry about him," Asuna apologized. "He's not really the most polite person on the fencing team."

_Gee, you think?_

"From what you said earlier, you weren't doing that because you cared, right?" I said dryly. "You just wanted to save face for your club. Or did I misunderstand your words, _Flash_?" I spat her nickname like venom, giving her a glare with the force of a thousand suns.

She matched my glare with one of equal force, then turned to walk away. "See if I ever help a jerk like you again."

_It's not like I'll need it._

"Eat me, don't forget to write!" I said, smirking devilishly when I saw her turn around with a face red from anger.

"Go to hell, Kirigaya!"

With that, she ran off.

I began walking in the opposite direction, Sachi falling into step beside me. We didn't converse at all, and it was only when we arrived at our street that Sachi broke the silence. "You really should be nicer to her. You know, since she tried to help you and all."

_No… did she just scold me? The world must be ending soon…_

"The apocalypse must be tomorrow if you're lecturing me today," I voiced my thoughts.

"Kazuto, I'm serious," Sachi retorted, gripping my face and turning it towards her own. "You should be more careful with whom you act like that."

"Okay, I get it," I caved. "Now, could you please let go of my face?"

"R-right," she stuttered, releasing her hold on my cheeks and turning away.

"Anyway…" I started. "Sorry for making you worry like that. It's just… I've told you about my premonitions, right?"

When I received a nod, I continued. "I've been having a really bad one for about a week. It's been getting stronger every day, and I can tell… something really bad is gonna happen to someone who doesn't deserve it."

"Kazuto… who are you referring to?" Sachi asked me, giving me a look that said she was already catching on.

_I can't tell her… I can't tell her that she's the one I'm talking about. But it looks like she might figure it out anyway…_

"…"

_If she realized, she might try to distance herself from me, and then it'll definitely happen. But if I don't tell her and she doesn't figure it out… she might slip up and let it happen. Damn it! This is the one premonition I want to change, but no matter what I do, it's a zero-sum game!_

"… It's me, isn't it?" she asked uncertainly, causing my eyes to narrow.

"Yeah… every time I feel it coming, I see a mental image of you alone, so I've been trying to stay as close as possible. Sorry. That sounds really creepy, doesn't it?" I said, laughing in spite of myself.

"No, it's not creepy at all! Actually, it's kind of romantic," she said, her cheeks dusted with a light pink.

_The… hell? Why is she…?_

I looked around, noting that we had almost reached our houses. "Hey, Sachi?"

"What is it?"

"Would you please stay at my place tonight? The premonition is really strong tonight."

"Sorry, Kazuto," Sachi said, giving me an apologetic smile. "But my parents and I are going out to eat."

I did my best to act like I was okay, but ultimately failed. "That's all right. Just… be careful."

"Well, duh!" she said, giving me a toothy grin. "I'm always careful!"

"Sure, sure," I bantered back, finally cracking a smile. "Well, good night!"

"Night!"

With that, we walked towards our respective houses, opened the doors and went inside.

"I'm back," I mumbled, knowing full well that my 'mother' wasn't home.

_Except that I don't _have_ a mother. Even my sister isn't really my sister. My whole family is a sham._

"Brother!" a voice said from around the corner, its source walking up to greet me.

_Speak of the devil._

The girl in front of me had medium-long ebony hair, steel-gray eyes, and was about half a head shorter than me. Suguha Kirigaya, my supposed 'sister'. In reality, she was my cousin.

I ignored her, maneuvering around her and entering the main hallway of our abnormally large house.

_She knows… they both know… that I'm not their direct blood. They just took me in out of pity, that's all._

I clenched my fists as I walked, my thoughts raging as they always did when I thought about the current family situation.

_Well, I don't _want_ their pity!_

I soon arrived at the door to my room. I opened it, walked in, and nearly tripped on a stray shirt due to the darkness that filled the room. I then decided that I should probably wait a bit for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

_I'm like a freaking bat,_ I mused, smiling bitterly into the darkness.

Once my eyes had fully adjusted, I maneuvered around all the clothes and computer parts strewn across my bedroom floor, sitting down at my desk. I pulled my laptop's charger out of my bag, plugging it into a wall. I then pulled out my laptop, plugging it in and opening it up. Clicking on my SAO shortcut from the taskbar once more, I was brought to the login screen. I typed in my username and password.

_ID: Kirito_

_Password: ************_

I looked at the screen in disbelief.

_The hell?! The boss door is already open!_

I entered the boss room, finding no one there but the boss.

_Looks like I just missed a failed boss raid. Well, let's make this boss _soloing_ a success!_

* * *

An hour later, I had successfully soloed the boss known as the «Gleam Eyes».

_I like how they put those symbols around in-game things. It's a nice touch._

I felt a yawn coming on, and I knew that I didn't have much time left in the waking world. I looked at my nightstand clock, noting the time to be after one AM.

"Uwaaah…" I yawned. "I should probably go to bed soon…"

As soon as I found a save point, I utilized it and logged off. I shut my laptop, then walked over to my bed. As soon as I came near it, I collapsed onto it, the day's fatigue catching up with me. Just before I fell asleep, I managed to squirm myself under the blankets.

_Well… looks like I'll be telling everyone about my latest boss soloing tomorrow at club. Now…_

"Goodnight… world."

With that, I fell into a deep sleep, filled with dreams about my favorite MMO.

* * *

_Ugh… I don't want to get up yet…_

Sunlight streamed through the open blinds of my bedroom window. It seemed as if the sun had the innate ability to find my eyes when I tried to sleep, even with its incredible distance from the earth.

_Wait… sunlight…? But I usually get up before dawn!_

I opened my eyes in a panic, sitting straight up in bed. I whipped my head around to look at the clock, finding that it had stopped ticking.

_No, no, no!_

I bolted out of bed, putting on a fresh school uniform in light speed, packing my things and running out on my room in a flash. I skidded on the slippery floor of the hallway before regaining my balance and running all the way down and into the front room. As soon as I got there, I looked at the digital clock in the front room.

"Eight o'clock?!" I shouted. I looked around the front room, finding Suguha on the couch. "Why the hell didn't you wake me up, Suguha?!" I shouted, causing her to turn around in her seat and face me.

"You ignored me last night, so this," she said, pointing to the digital clock on the wall. "Is payback! Besides, I don't have school today, so it's not my problem!"

I then noticed the distinct lack of pressure on my mind.

_No… no! The premonition is gone! That means… it came true!_

"You idiot!" I shouted, heading for the door.

"What?" Suguha asked me innocently. "You're just a little late for school.'

"But… no… I have to find her!"

With that, I bolted out the door, leaving a very confused Suguha behind.

I ran with blinding speed, past my own limits. My vision tunneled until I could only see what was directly in front of me. Everything else seemed to blur out of focus.

_Come on, please let her be okay! Oh, who the hell am I kidding?! I just hope she's _alive_!_

* * *

A few minutes later, just before I reached the school, all of my worst fears were realized. Sachi's parents' car…

Was totaled.

Another car had rear-ended it, and from the looks of it, they seemed to be unconscious. But I didn't care about them.

I rushed to the scene, going around front to assess the damage. When I got there, I found Sachi's parents stumbling out of the front doors of the car.

"Mr. and Mrs. Takamachi!" I shouted, running towards them.

Sachi's mother, Ritsu Takamachi, was the first to respond. "Kazuto? Why aren't you at school?" she said, trying to feign being okay.

"Running late," I replied impatiently. "But that's not the point! What happened? Are you two okay? Where's Sachi?"

Sachi's father, Daisuke Takamachi, was the next to respond, talking from where he stood, trying to open the back door to the car. "We're fine, Kazuto!" he said before pointing to the door. "But I could use a hand in getting this door open! Sachi's in there!"

I wordlessly ran to him, grabbing the car door and pulling with all my might. He joined in once more, and soon enough, the door came flying open. I immediately crawled in, knowing that Daisuke wouldn't be able to fit into the tight area. I looked at Sachi for the first time since I got there, and I was horrified at what I saw.

The entire front of her face was covered in blood, and I could see a gash in the skin under her bangs. The left side of her head was saturated with even more blood, staining her midnight-blue hair with a dark crimson.

_No… no! NO!_

I quickly picked up her unconscious form and got out of the car, careful not to look directly at her. Tears waged a desperate war on my eyes, giving it their all to escape. And yet somehow, despite the events that had transpired, I remained eerily calm on the outside.

"Did you call an ambulance yet?" I asked Ritsu, looking into her shocked eyes with my own dull ones.

"Just now!" she shouted. I could hear the desperation in her voice, and so I did something I was very afraid to do.

I checked her pulse.

_Please… don't be dead…_

After a couple seconds, I sighed in relief. "She's got a pulse. It's slow, but she's got a pulse. She's alive. Still, we need to get her to a hospital ASAP. She's still losing blood."

_Thank god… she's alive…_ were the only words my mind could conjure up at the time.

Just then, we heard the sound of sirens coming towards us. I instantly knew that an ambulance had come. I smiled.

_She'll be okay now…_

When the ambulance arrived, several people poured out of the car. One of the females walked up to me, followed by two males carrying a stretcher. "We'll take it from here," the female said.

She took Sachi's unconscious body from me, and I said, "Thank you, ma'am."

She put Sachi on the stretcher, and they began moving back to the ambulance. I knew I couldn't go with them because of school, so before they got too far away, I asked, "Hey, I'm a friend of hers. Would you please tell me which hospital you're taking her to? I'd like to visit."

"Tokyo's central hospital."

"Thanks."

I bid farewell to Sachi's parents, and off to school I ran. However, it was only _after_ I left that the gravity of what happened caught up with me. Tears stung at my eyes as I ran, and before long, I could barely see through the tears streaming down my face. I closed my eyes, running on autopilot.

_Why?! Why couldn't I have _been_ there?!_ I thought, even though I knew full well why I wasn't.

Once I couldn't run any longer, I stopped, bending down and panting rapidly. Once I had caught my breath, I opened my eyes and looked up, noticing where I had ran on instinct.

_The school's outdoor kendo practice area… great… the one place I never wanted to come back to. Damn instincts…_

Just as I was turning to walk away, one of the students of the school's Kendo Club, who happened to be practicing, noticed me.

_Why are they even here during school hours?_

The one who noticed me came up to me, swinging his kendo practice sword, a shinai, in his right hand. He eyed me curiously, and when I didn't react, he smirked. "What's up, kid? Did you come for a _practice_ _session_?"

The way he said practice session practically screamed, 'I want to kick your ass.' Thus, I turned to walk away, not saying a word. He grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. "Oh, no you don't. I've seen you around. You're the kid who hit my buddy Kuradeel, right? You're not getting away that easily."

"Don't. Touch. Me," I said, my voice dangerously low. I started to walk, but his hand held me in place.

"What's that?" he replied, his hand gripping me tighter, so tight that it almost hurt. "I don't understand chicken speak."

"Fuck it," I whispered. I whipped around to face him, jerking his hand off of my shoulder. He flinched at the sight of my expression: one of primal rage.

In one fluid motion, faster than he could react, I grabbed his right wrist with my left hand. I then twisted it until he let go of his shinai with a pained cry, causing said shinai to fall straight into my awaiting right hand. I tossed it into the air, watching it do a flip before catching it by the handle and pointing it at him.

My face must have resembled that of the devil himself, since he started backing away when he looked into my eyes. I narrowed them, then began speaking in a low, dangerous tone. "I'll let it slide _this_ time, but if I _ever_ see you within five meters of me _or_ one of my friends, I will _personally_ ensure your long-term entry to a hospital. Got it?"

The boy nodded his head, and I threw his shinai into the air above him. I turned to walk away, then said, "See ya never."

With that, I began walking to the main school grounds. After the initial adrenaline from the one-sided fight wore off, I only found myself thinking one thing.

_I hope Sachi's okay…_

* * *

As I always said, give something big five minutes, and the whole school will know.

Throughout the school day, word spread like wildfire about my incident at the kendo club's training area. By the end of it, the entire school knew. I couldn't look at anyone without them averting their eyes in fear. All I wanted to do was go home, game my troubles away in solitude and go to sleep.

When the final bell ended, I made a beeline for the classroom door. When I exited into the sea of students, I dashed towards my locker, weaving my way through all the students who happened to be in my way. I got my things, then started heading for my clubroom to say one final goodbye to my club mates. That's right.

I was going to quit my club.

When I arrived at my clubroom's door, I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't sure whether I should even go in or not. But…

_I have to let them know what happened._

With new resolve, I opened the door, finding everyone (sans Sachi, of course) already there, presumably waiting for me.

"Hey…" I said, looking at each of them with lifeless eyes.

"Kazuto…" Keita started. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to continue. "What happened? You look horrible… and we heard what happened earlier today. What got you so mad at that guy?"

I stayed silent for a good five seconds, then started talking in a quiet voice. "I wasn't mad at him. I was mad at myself, and he got caught up in it by setting me off."

"Why were you mad at yourself?" Ducker asked me, his sympathetic tone making me feel even worse.

I looked down. "Sachi… Sachi got in a car accident. She was alive when I got there, but she was losing a lot of blood, and had a few head wounds. I'm not sure if she's alive right now…"

I clenched my hands into fists, closing my eyes to restrain the tears I knew would fall. "It's my fault…! If I had been there…!"

"Calm down, man," Keita said soothingly. "There's nothing you could've done."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself before I spoke. Once I felt in control of my emotions again, I said, "Sorry, guys. I'm quitting the club for now. There are too many memories of her here… if she dies, I wouldn't be able to stay sane."

"Don't worry, I understand," Keita said, smiling sadly. "We'll miss you."

"Yeah…"

With that, I left the Computer Research Club…

Once and for all.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Aaaaand… we're back!**

**So, what did you think? Is it any better than the original?**

**By the way, a shout-out to my followers: the next chapters of FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT and FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT: Final Reset are both coming along just fine. I'm putting quality over quickness, so that's why it's taking a deplorable amount of time to get them finished.**

**Once again, I apologize to anyone who was offended by the coarse language in this chapter. I promise you, it **_**will**_** die down as the story progresses.**

**Anyway, that's about it! Here's my least favorite line!**

**I don't own the Sword Art Online light novel series or any of its adaptations!**

**Until we meet again!**


	2. Chapter 2: Persistence

The Kendo Club: Playing for Keeps

Chapter Two: Persistence

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry for taking so long, guys! I'm still in high school, and finals are coming up, so I've been really busy as of late… but by the time May is over, summer vacation will be shining its glorious freedom down on me! Huzzah! When that time comes, I'll be able to work on my stories freely!**

**All right, I guess I should apologize to the followers of FESR and FESRFR, since I promised them I would work on those two stories predominantly for the month. I'll explain why this came first in the bottom A/N.**

**All right, I guess that's about it! Have a good read!**

**I'll see ya at the bottom!**

* * *

Fourteen days.

That's how long it had been since the Takamachi family had gotten into the car accident. Once I arrived at the hospital after school that day, I was informed that Sachi had fallen into a coma. The doctors said it was unlikely that she would wake up any time soon, and even if she did, she might never be the same.

I visited her with her parents every day, staying until the hospital closed for the night. It became a routine. I would get up, go to school, go visit Sachi for as long as possible, then come back home and play SAO until I fell asleep. I hated myself for not being there. For not taking her place. After all…

_I deserve to die. I've allowed so many people close to me to be hurt… I deserve to die._

Still, even if I wanted to end my life, I knew I couldn't do it. Not yet, anyway. I had to see her one more time… I had to see her come out of the coma. The desire to see her smiling face again kept me from committing suicide.

_What if I kill myself, and then she wakes up? She'd be sad… so I can't do it. Not yet._

The pitter-patter of rain hitting the classroom window brought me out of my thoughts. I raised my head slowly, watching my math teacher as she carried on with her lesson. She had long since stopped trying to scold me, as I had long since stopped responding when she did. I still got good grades on my homework, so she let it slide after finding out about what happened.

I looked over at the ticking clock, checking the time for the first time that class. I found that we still had thirty minutes before we got out for the day. I decided to try to fall asleep, even though I knew there was a good chance that I would have a nightmare.

_It's not like I'm not used to them… it's just like it was before I met Sachi… _

With those unsettling thoughts, I fell asleep.

* * *

_I snapped my head up, opening my eyes to the classroom once more. Only this time, it was filled with kendo fighters in place of the students and their desks. They all held shinai of their own, and after two seconds, they began walking towards me, smiling eerily behind their kendo masks._

_I looked behind me, finding that I was completely surrounded. When I looked down, I found two shinai at my feet… one short, and one long. I picked them up, and suddenly, thousands of images flashed through my head. Images of a girl with long, violet hair. Images of me and her playing, laughing, crying and fighting together. Images of so much more. And then…_

_I saw images of me and the girl in a doctors' office, with a doctor sporting a grim look in front of us. As if I had been placed inside the image, I found myself able to move my body inside of it. I looked over at the violet-haired girl, finding tears in her eyes. She looked broken._

_The scene shifted, and I saw the girl being pushed down by a blonde with a devious smirk on her face. I felt rage boiling inside of me, but I found myself unable to move or speak out in protest. They both looked at me, the blonde with a shocked expression, as if she had no idea I was there before, and the violet-haired girl with a desperate look._

_I ignored the shocked blonde, helping the violet-haired girl to her feet. I began to walk away with her._

_The scene shifted once more, and I saw myself crying over a picture of the violet-haired girl. I wanted to reach out to the crying me, but I couldn't. I couldn't move. All I could do was watch this other me as he cried, desperately calling out someone's name._

_The scene shifted again, and I found myself looking into my bathroom mirror. I heard the other me saying something terrifying._

"_Today, I end it. Today, my suffering ends. With this knife," he said, picking up a very big knife from the bathroom counter. "I'll end my suffering for good."_

_All I could do was watch as the other me put the knife up to his throat. Just before he started to cut it, however, the sound of the doorbell ringing came from the front room._

"_I wonder who that is…" he said, putting the knife down. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to see who's at the door before I go."_

_He walked out of my bathroom, and my body moved on its own to follow him. Once we both got to the door, the other me opened it. We saw a midnight-blue-haired girl about his age, smiling widely. The other me forced a smile back, then began speaking in a kind voice. "Hello, who are you?"_

_The girl smiled wider, opening her mouth to speak. "I'm your new next door neighbor! My name is…"_

* * *

_BRIIIIIIING!_

I awoke to the sound of the final bell ringing, I snapped my eyes open wide, looking around nervously. I knew from the warm, wet feeling in my eyes and on my cheeks that I had been crying, so I quickly tried to remove the evidence by rubbing my eyes with my jacket sleeve.

I got up, going to my locker to get my things and leave for the hospital.

As I walked through the city streets, lost in thought, I didn't notice the rain letting up.

_I wonder if she's still in a stable condition…_

I looked up briefly, finding three students that shared my school uniform. Upon closer inspection, I saw that each one of them had a shinai in their right hands. I sighed, beginning to move around them. Then, one of them stuck their shinai out in front of me, blocking me from advancing any further.

"What do you three want?" I said flatly, lowering my head. My bangs covering my eyes, I continued with, "I have to be somewhere."

"You're Kazuto, right?" one of them asked me.

"What if I am?" I said, voice devoid of emotion, just as it had been for the past two weeks.

"Wow, you're the kid that beat Sanji?" another kid said in disbelief. "You're a lot scrawnier than I thought you'd be."

"So, are you guys going to tell me what you want with me, or do you just like sticking your swords out in front of other people?" I asked them, pointing to the shinai still in front of me.

"Man, this smartass got you good!" the third one said, laughing hysterically and pointing at the one who _still_ held his shinai in front of me.

"So, can I like, _go_ now…?" I asked them, putting a hand to my head.

"Why? You're just going to see you're dead girlfriend!" the one that hadn't said anything for a while jeered.

"She's not dead…" I said, my rage just barely hidden behind my façade of calmness that had become so natural.

One of them then said something that made me lose my composure entirely. "That bitch might as well be— oof!"

I retracted my knee from in between his legs as the boy fell to his knees, ripping the shinai from his right hand. I looked up at the remaining two, my vision tunneling until I could only see their weapons, pressure points and weak spots.

"Fuck it all… you pricks… I tried to stay calm," I said, watching with a deranged expression as I walked towards the cowering forms my two remaining victims. "I tried to keep from losing it. But guess what? You pressed the one button that _always_ sets me off! You insulted Sachi!"

In the span of one point five seconds, I hit the second boy hard in the stomach with my newly-acquired shinai, kicked his right arm to make him let go of his own shinai, bent down, and took it with my left hand. I then stood up, holding both of my shinai parallel to my sides at a forty-five degree angle with the ground.

"Are you ready?" I asked my last victim, smirking like a demon. "You've pushed me over the edge. If you were looking for a fight, you've certainly got one!"

The third boy backed away, his eyes wide as he took in my form. "That stance… that's the starting stance of…" he whispered, stumbling as he turned to run. "I'm out!"

With that, the worthless vermin of a boy ran away as fast as he could. I looked at his disregarded friends, who lay unconscious on the ground. They looked pitiful, just slumped there, snoozing on the puddles beneath them.

"You're all despicable."

With that, I carefully set their shinai at their sides, leaving for the hospital. I ignored the crowd staring at me, knowing that my little incident would only come back to bite me.

* * *

As usual, I stood before the door to Sachi's hospital room with apprehension for a good two minutes. I worried about what I would do if Sachi's parents were there when I got in there, even though I knew those worries were unfounded. They had become akin to a second family to me, what with the way they treated me so kindly when I came in. It was like they thought of me as their son.

_They would make awesome in-laws if I were to—_

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the embarrassing thoughts that plagued my brain as of late. I knew there was no way that it would work out, especially if she remained comatose.

I cleared my head, removing the fears from my brain. Opening the door, I walked into Sachi's hospital room to find Sachi's parents sitting in the chairs by the window, as per the usual. They turned their heads to me, and I greeted them with a wave before walking over to Sachi's bed. I took her hand, starting to talk in a quiet, caring voice.

"I'm back, Sachi. I know you can't hear me, but I want you to know that I still care about you. I'll never stop caring. I promise you, I'll come back to see you every day until you wake up. And when you do, I'll personally take you to all the places you missed while you were like this."

As if she could hear me, a small smile came to Sachi's face. My eyes widened, but no tears came out. Instead, I returned the smile with one of my own. I had grown past crying when I saw her after the first three days. I had resolved to act strong around her, despite her being unable to see it.

I turned around to face Sachi's parents, giving them a proper greeting. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Takamachi. How was work today?"

Daisuke sighed. "I was okay, but…"

I listened to their retelling of the ups and downs of that particular day of work, trying to offer solutions to some of their dilemmas, most of which they accepted. I had been doing this ever since they had become comfortable enough with me to share their work stories, and most of the potential solutions that I provided actually worked, much to my surprise. Thus, I had become a counselor of sorts, helping them with all kinds of problems. They liked me enough to not take offense to any of my ideas, and because of all this, I had become a very dear friend and to them both.

A while later, I looked at the time.

"It looks like it's about time for visiting hours to end," I said sadly. "I should get going. I have to meet up with my sister. Sorry."

A lie. I hadn't spoken to my sister since the incident. Frankly, I was outright ignoring her. I felt like it was her fault that Sachi got in the accident, so I didn't interact with her out of resentment.

"Oh, that's all right," Ritsu said. "Don't worry. We'll all meet back here tomorrow, right?"

I smiled softly. "You can count on it."

After getting my things and saying goodbye to Daisuke, I left, walking out of the hospital and into the night.

* * *

When I arrived at the door to my house, I looked over to Sachi's house, remembering the night before the accident. When tears came to my eyes, I shook my head, opening the door to my own house and going inside.

Suguha sat on the couch in the front room, and when I glanced over at her, I noticed she looked like she wanted to say something. Before she could get the chance, I walked past her, going up to my room.

I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, then set my bag down, opening it up and taking my laptop out. Plugging its charger in soon after, I sat down at my desk put the laptop on its light brown surface. I opened up my laptop, clicking on my SAO shortcut from the taskbar and logging in. The game loaded, and I spawned at the save point at the beginning of the seventy-fifth floor boss dungeon.

I set out to mapping the dungeon, falling into the familiar pattern of grinding until I gained a level before advancing to the next part of the dungeon. When I got to the boss door about an hour later, I fell into deep thought to come up with a strategy for the boss fight.

_I won't be able to solo this one. Every twenty-five floors, the bosses are extremely powerful. I guess I'll have to form a raid group,_ I thought. A loud yawn chose that moment to escape my lips, making me realize that it was probably best for me to go to sleep.

I logged off, walked over to my bed, and willingly collapsed onto my mattress. Within seconds, I drifted off into a nightmare-filled sleep.

* * *

When I woke up, I still felt tired, a common occurrence now that I had nightmares every night. Even so, I sat up in bed, looking over at my nightstand to check the time on my clock. My eyes drifted instead to the sandwich lying on my nightstand with a hastily-written note next to it.

_Wait… a sandwich?_

Indeed, a very tasty-looking sandwich had been placed on my nightstand, and its aroma alone made me salivate.

_Who could've made this? Sugu isn't very good with cooking, so it couldn't be her._

I eyed it carefully, looking for any signs of poison. After all, if Sugu _did_ make it, she might have put something in it to get back at me for ignoring her. Even if she didn't, her cooking had induced food poisoning on me before, so I didn't want to take any chances. When I arrived at the conclusion that there was no poison, it only brought up first question once more.

_Seriously, who made this?_

I decided to look at the note next to it, my tired mind finally coming to the simple conclusion that the maker of the sandwich must have been the one to leave the note. The note had very messy handwriting, almost as if the writer didn't want to be in my room a second longer than necessary.

_Good. I don't want anyone else in my room, either._

I began to read the note, a skeptic look on my face.

"_Your mom hired me yesterday as a cleaning lady and cook, since you obviously have better things to do that cook for your own flesh and blood. Anyway, I decided to make you breakfast, since you always look so hungry in the mornings. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm only doing this because you look so pitiful in the mornings._

_-Asuna"_

"The hell?" I said, my tired mind very irritated that someone had infiltrated my room without letting me know.

I heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway to my room. "You know, if you don't want it, you can always go starve and eat three lunches later. It makes no difference to me."

I looked over with a very angry expression. "_Flash_. I don't know where in my aunt's mind she got the asinine idea to hire you, but I want you out of my house _right now_. I don't want any more publicity than I already have, and I know that having _you_ in my house will only make it worse."

"Suit yourself, then," Asuna said, walking over to my nightstand to recollect the sandwich.

_She entered my room… she will _pay_… wait a second, she's coming to take the—_

"Like hell you'll take it!" I shouted, putting my arm between her and the delectable-smelling sandwich. "Just 'cause you leave, it doesn't mean the sandwich leaves with you!"

To illustrate my point, I quickly grabbed it and took a bite. As soon as I did, my mouth was assaulted by an amazing array of flavors that came together to create one super-flavor. My taste buds on overdrive due to the delectable tang of the godsend piece of food, I could only think of one thing to say.

"This… is the ultimate sandwich…"

Asuna gave me a smug smile, already sure of her victory. "So, do I still have to leave?"

_She was playing me! She knew this would happen!_

I sighed, begrudgingly giving in. "My aunt hired you, so no matter how misguided her idea was, I have to deal. Still, I don't want to ever see you in my room again, got it? You can leave the sandwich by the door next time."

"Whatever," Asuna said, looking around my room. I saw her eyes drift to two specific relics of my past, and before I knew it, she asked me, "Wait, why do you have two kendo swords in your room? And why is one of them so small?"

I sighed, closing my eyes in an attempt to block out any more angry thoughts. "First off, they're called shinai. Second, it's none of your business. Third, get the _hell_ out of my room!" I hissed, shooting her an intimidating glare.

She backed away slightly before turning around and exiting my room. "Okay, I got it! See you at school!"

_She'd better not. I don't want to interact with her any more than necessary._

I got out of bed, thinking, _Thank god. Now I can put some pants on._

I grabbed my clothes for the day, heading into the bathroom to take a shower. After setting them down on the toilet seat, I undressed and walked over to the shower, turning the water on. When I stepped in, I immediately fell prey to the delightful feeling of the hot water cascading down my entire body.

I spent several minutes in the shower doing nothing but enjoying the warmth of the water. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and so I soon found myself remembering that I had school in just a few minutes.

Thus, I hurriedly washed, dried off, got out of the shower, and practically threw my clothes on. I made it out the door in record time, running at a breakneck pace toward the school. But of course, lady luck decided once again to abandon me entirely.

I felt another premonition, and I knew exactly what this one meant.

_Damn it… why now?!_

And once again, I found myself surrounded by three members of the Kendo Club.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry for taking so long to get this out, guys… my excuse is that I have no excuse.**

**And once again, I apologize to FESR and FESRFR followers, since I promised them I would work on those two stories for the better part of this month. I've just had this chapter almost done for about a month, so I decided, "Let's finish this thing!" … and I did.**

**I know that this doesn't cover the full second chapter of the original TKC, but I felt that you guys had waited long enough, so I decided to cut it short. Still, at least this story isn't dead!**

**So yeah, there's only really one thing left to say, even though I don't like to say it.**

**I don't own the Sword Art Online light novel series or any of its adaptations!**

**See ya in the next chapter!**


End file.
